The Indestructible Hulk
by Sybil Silverphoenix
Summary: Captain Rogers has let Doctor Banner have his time alone for a year now, but with General Ross now Secretary of Defense in the current Administration (Trump), the Good Captain needs to locate the on-the-lam Doctor after being 'threatened' with the Sokovia Accords (which is the Mutant Restration Act rehashed and now on a global scale). So Steve sends out his old war buddy, Logan
1. A Hard look at what was and what is

_Clouds Forest near Khar Turan National Park, Iran… May 5, 2016_

Bruce opens his eyes and blinks against the harsh glare of the midday sun beating down on him through the broken gap in the tree canopy above. He looks around him at the blur of green and quickly finds a silver case nearby… Bruce sighs in relief and opens it. Inside he finds two changes of clothes plus a pair of sneakers, a new pair of glasses, three bottles of water, and a big bag of trail mix as well as some beef jerky. There's some US, EU, and Chinese currency inside three side pockets respectively.

Bruce dresses quickly, pockets all the cash, puts the glasses on, then downs half of one bottle before he starts working on the trail mix. He remembers what he did as the Hulk in the fight against Ultron just an hour or so ago… the capital of Sokovia was literally ripped out of the ground and taken up into the air via a rather beautiful blend of anti-grav engines and Tony's very own repulsor technology.

He remembers Natasha trying to talk him back to the Helicarrier… but Bruce and Hulk had made a joint decision NOT to go back… especially not after what happened in South Africa. Bruce shakes his head at the memory of what Hulk had seen under the Scarlet Witch's reality warping spell.

He had seen a swarm of wasps… felt their sharp stings on his verdant skin and howled in pain. Hulk had raced away from the flying menace only to wind up surrounded by the US Army… tanks everywhere, machine guns peppering his bulletproof skin, stinging him almost as badly as the wasps. His rage was complete and blinding. He swatted at the pesky buzzing insects and slammed his fists into the tanks… ripping the metal war machines apart… throwing them from his massive form… only to be hounded mercilessly by the stinging insects constantly buzzing about his head and shoulders. All the while it had really been civilian vehicles and police personal he had been attacking.

Bruce releases a shuddering breath as he returns to the present. He looks at the compass from the emergency gear in the case and sets a course North which will take him out of the mountainous area and hopefully more towards signs of civilization. As he goes, Bruce can't help but think of all that he has just walked away from… friends, a dream job doing work that will actually help save the planet from Humanity itself…

Tony…

Natasha…

Steve…

Clint…

Thor…

Sam…

Even Doctors Selvig and Foster…

Helen Cho…

Oh, Helen… how he'll miss her most of all. They had been dating since late 2014. Bruce had even had plans to pop 'the question' to her in a month's time from now… but those plans are gone now. And he must put the past behind him.

He knows out of everyone else… he'll miss Tony just as much as Helen. Tony was the one person who didn't look at him with disdain, veiled anger, or outright fear. Tony had become his best friend and a dear confidant… even though Tony could be overbearing from time to time in his constant research about how exactly Bruce goes green.

Bruce sighs and finds himself remembering a random day with Tony in the lab before he and Helen had gotten together… it would've been like any other save for Tony wanting to talk about the Other Guy.

~f~*~l~*~a~*~s~*~h~*~b~*~a~*~c~*~k~

 _Stark's personal lab, Avengers Tower… Summer of 2014_

"Ya know… I never got the chance to properly thank you for saving my life." Tony said randomly one day as he and Bruce tinker together on a new project… It had been about a week since the 'therapy session' where Tony tried to vent his story of self-discovery while dealing with the terrorist known simply as 'The Mandarin'. Tony was working hard now to 'nano-ize' invisa-shielding like what S.H.I.E.L.D. has on their Helicarrier.

"Uhh… yeah, you did." Bruce said as he looks at the data readouts on his StarkSlate. "You hired me to your R&D department, remember? Or have you been smoking your funny cigarettes again?" Bruce added with a chuckle and a lopsided smile then gave Tony a pointed look from over his glasses.

"You know I have a prescription, Doctor…" Tony had deflected in a deadpan tone. Odd. Curious. And, yes, alarming. Then he added… "You should let the Other Guy out."

Tony said quickly diverting the conversation back on course. Bruce sighed and looked at Tony hard… his employer just stood there, stock still, with his back to him. They've had this conversation before… and they are likely to have it again and again and again… that doesn't mean it is any less aggravating to hear.

"You know why that is unthinkable right here, right now." Bruce said swallowing to tamp down his rising anger. Breathing deep and even through his nose to calm his racing heart. "If I let… him out… the entire city is at risk." Bruce said reminding Tony of the dangers. 'Then I'll have to run again… and this time… I won't be able to stop.'Bruce had thought frowning in the moment. Tony can be such a pain in the ass sometimes… constantly poking, prodding, and startling him to provoke a 'reaction'. Bruce had gotten used to it by then… but it is taxing. He knows Tony is just fascinated and curious… but then so was that darn cat… and look what happened to him.

"More like my Tower and Midtown… but I'd just lead you away… or blast ya out into the Atlantic… either way… damage will be minimal." Tony had rattled off thinking of the simple logistics of such a catastrophic event. "Besides… it would be smarter to go out to the middle of nowhere… but still that's not my point."

"What is your point, Tony?" Bruce asked then tapping the StarkSlate's stylus to his chin after crossing his arms. "Know what… never mind… I need a break right now." Bruce quickly said uncrossing his arms and turned away.

"Wait, Bruce… please. Hear me out." Tony pleaded. Bruce, against his better judgment, stopped and turned around to look at the second craziest, yet one of the smartest men on the planet… in engineering that is… and gave him his undivided attention.

"I get it… you're not into the 'destruction of all property within reach' thing that tends to happen… it's a given… but have you tried to control the Hulk?" Tony asked and his voice had sounded somewhat melancholy at having spoken those words. Bruce felt a headache coming on in that moment… he had been getting them regularly since his 'accident' a decade ago. They had become more frequent since Loki's stay on the Helicarrier. He had removed his glasses at the time to alleviate the pressure by pinching the bridge of his nose and rubbing the corners of his eyes.

"How can you control a Force of Nature?" Bruce had asked a bit too irritably. "Short answer: You CAN'T. You get the hell outta the way and hope you don't choose the wrong direction."

"Not necessarily true. I've got one word for ya… Thor." Tony had come back with, cocky smile on his face and gave a waggle of his brows.

"He doesn't count." Bruce sighed.

"Does too… he calls the lightning and discharges it with his glorified lightning rod… that apparently only he can lift… convenient." Tony said in his usual blasé way even rolling his eyes at the last. "Anywhoo… my point is this… you've got all that power locked up inside of you… use it. Plus, stretching those green muscles of yours in a few practice runs could prove beneficial when you do find yourself out on an 'Avenger Mission' doing, ya know, save-the-world type stuff." Tony had said so casually then sipped at his fruit smoothie. Bruce had thought on Tony's words for a moment as silence fell between them… he has been thinking of them since that day…

It wasn't long after that that Bruce had met Betsy Braddock aka Psylocke… and the beautiful woman with the purple-streaked hair from London had caught his attention… as well as Hulk's. In fact, Hulk liked her more than Bruce did. Sure, Bruce found her to be quite lovely and witty… and she certainly helped him rediscover intimacy… *cough cough*… But she was just too far away living in London, working for the Brit's version of S.H.I.E.L.D… S.W.O.R.D. they called it… complete with their own team of super powered individuals known as Team Excalibur.

Yeah, she didn't have time for him… and Bruce moved on… just like he did with Betty… but it still hurt all the same. And what's worse, Hulk had grown very attached to Psylocke as well. In the end, Bruce had convinced his alter ego to let go as well… a daunting task indeed. Which wasn't very successful until Doctor Helen Cho waltzed into his life… and Bruce found himself swept off his feet by her brilliant intellect and shy charm. Hulk begrudgingly came around to liking her too… especially after saving her from the incident last year when Brock Rumlow aka Crossbones tried to kidnap her for Hydra. Hulk had ambushed Hydra's extraction point and made certain Helen wasn't taken… and she then had a moment to bond with the green giant. Rumlow had gotten away though… it would only be a matter of time before he struck again.

Bruce then finds himself pushing further back into his memories… all the way back to his childhood. He remembers how his dad was always loud and abusive to him and his mother when he drank… and he drank a lot. Flashes of a long ago night fill his mind like the flickering images in a horror film, dark and gritty, in full detail and in slow motion at the terrifying parts…

~f~*~l~*~a~*~s~*~h~*~b~*~a~*~c~*~k~

 _Banner Household… Fall of 1980_

A ten year old Bruce plays quietly on the floor with the chemistry set his Uncle Jon and Aunt Debbie had gotten him recently for his birthday. He has litmus paper to test acidity in solutions in his small hands. Bruce then slowly sneaks over behind his father's recliner. His father was fully engrossed with the game playing on the box television to pay any real notice to the small arm reaching up to dip a strip of paper into his glass of beer. The whole operation went smoothly until…

"That call was bullshit!" Bruce's father yelled out startling Bruce… who yanked his hand away only to knock the glass over and spill the golden liquid on the end table and floor. "What the hell?" His father said heatedly looking down upon the mess and spotted Bruce dart away. "Dammit! You little bastard! I told you NOT to mess with my things!"

And before Bruce could get away to safety, he is grabbed, hauled over his father's knee, and his little backside is smacked repeatedly by the large, strong hand. Bruce cried out in pain as his father utilizes his full strength into every blow.

"Will! Stop that!" Bruce's mom had chastised as she came into the living room from the kitchen.

"You stay outta this, you whore!" Bruce's father then yelled at his wife. She promptly slapped him across the face. A long, terrible silence seems to stretch between them after that.

Then his father went back on his rampage…

"Damned kid! Always getting your nose into something." The angry drunk ranted as he dragged his son down the hall to the small closet at its end.

"No, dad! Please, no!" Little Bruce had cried out repeatedly sobbing harder and harder the closer they get to the confining space…

Bruce snaps himself from the distant memory of his childhood. It wasn't long after that that his father's verbal and physical abuse of his son and wife escalated to a point that Bruce's mother pulled a knife on her husband and stabbed him. Bruce finds himself shambling into the nearest town in northwestern Iran as he recalls how his mother defended herself from her abusive husband.

~f~*~l~*~a~*~s~*~h~*~b~*~a~*~c~*~k~

 _Banner Household… Spring of 1981_

Bruce is seated quietly in the living room on the floor playing with some lego bricks. He does his best to ignore the heated words his parents are exchanging in the kitchen. It's the usual spiel… Bruce's dad drinks too much, doesn't work enough, etc etc… Then the slap resounds from the kitchen and Bruce's brown eyes snap up to look through the door way into the bright room hearing his mother's pained cry.

"Let that be a lesson in opening your smart mouth to me, woman!" His father had said in anger. Fist raised, ready to strike another blow. "Or do you need a refresher?" Bruce watched transfixed as his mother cowers.

"Thought so… even a stupid whore like you knows when you're beat." His dad said then turned around. "Just to be sure that you know never to challenge me again… I'm gonna give Bruce the same then put him in the closet for the rest of the afternoon." His dad threatens as he struts menacingly through the kitchen. And Bruce just sat there frozen. He didn't want to go back in the closet let alone be whipped. He hated it in there. He'd cry and cry and his father would call him a baby and say he wasn't his son… but rather his daughter. It was humiliating and hurtful to the young boy.

Bruce snapped out of it as his father took a rough, bruising hold upon his small arm…

"I'm gonna whip the girl right outta you." His father said gruffly as he loomed overhead menacingly. Bruce feared his father more than anything in the world at this moment… then the savage yell of his mother was heard followed by his father's pained cry and jerking reaction. When his father turned to look back at his wife, the young Bruce could see a large knife in his mother's hands… the shiny steel was nearly half covered in red… she had stabbed his abusive father in the back… and Bruce could see the welling dark red stain below the shoulder of his father's light blue shirt.

"You fucking bitch!" He then yells as he clutches at his side and slumps a bit… but his rage had overcome him and he managed to surge forward in an explosive display. He tackled his wife to the tiled kitchen floor and wrested the chopping knife from her slighter hands. He then proceed to stab his wife repeatedly in the chest and stomach… all in front of Bruce's watching eyes.

He was rooted to the spot, frozen to the thought of fleeing… transfixed at the horror playing out brutally before him. Then just as his mother's screams started to fade, instinct took over and young Bruce fled. He ran as fast as his scrawny legs could carry him down the street to the first house he saw with lights still on in the windows. He knocked frantically and plead with the woman who answered the door to call 911.

When the police and ambulance finally arrived ten minutes later, it was too late for his mother… and his father had chosen to use the revolver he kept in his night stand on himself rather than go to prison.

It had been the most traumatic thing to ever happen to him… until his Gamma experiment had gone horribly wrong… or just a year after that when he learnt about how dangerous his blood truly was… or just yesterday when…

Bruce breaks down and weeps at the unending string of traumas that is his life. His only regret is that he cannot end it, even now.


	2. Getting to know you

_Avengers Compound, Upstate New York… early June, 2017_

"I need you to do this for me ASAP, Logan." Steve Rogers says to his other old wartime friend, Logan a.k.a. The Wolverine. The gruff looking Mutant sniffs and nods his head. "I've let him have his time… but with General Ross now Secretary of Defense slapping the Sokovia Accords on us… I need you to find Bruce and get him back here."

"I'll find him, Cap." Logan says as he agrees to the mission.

"But I need it done quietly." Steve then adds in a near whisper.

"This ain't happening without me." A new voice says and the two men turn their eyes to the towering seven foot seven, green skinned woman dressed in her black and purple S.H.I.E.L.D. issue tactical field uniform. So enters Jennifer Walters a.k.a. She-Hulk.

"Oh great… there goes doing this quietly." Logan says in his typical deadpan sarcasm.

"Look here, Little Man… I don't think you'll be able to convince Bruce or the Hulk to 'come along quietly'." She-Hulk snaps back as she gives a hard glare down at the 6'2 Mutant. "You're just going to wind up reduced to mush… and that's why you need me to go as well." She finishes with a nod and knowing look to Captain Rogers.

"I don't need you… when I've got these." Wolverine growls out as he lifts his left fist and pops his adamantium claws. He glares at her through them with equally hard hazel eyes.

"He knows me… they both know me." She-Hulk reasons as she locks burning emerald eyes with Logan.

"Alright… both of you go." Steve says in his Captain's Voice and the arguing pair look to the Avengers' Leader at the same time. "Take a stealth quinjet. Radio Silence. You're going to have to rely on each other… so play nice."

"Sure thing, Captain." She-Hulk says sultry and with a smirk on her purple hued lips. She then turns swiftly on her heel and leaves Steve's quarters in three great strides. She stoops at the door then turns around just outside of it. "Oh yeah… by the way, Stark has called a meeting for all the Avengers to meet in the Common Room." She adds then turns and makes for the landing pads.

"Seriously? You want me to track down the Hulk withher? Steve, I don't think that's wise considering I have to blend in over there… and nothing draws more attention in the Middle East than an eight foot tall… attractive… green woman wearing next to nothing… by their standards." Logan gripes… but Steve realizes his friend makes a good point.

"You're right…" Steve starts agreeing with his old friend. "I can just imagine she'd turn alotta heads… so that's why she'll stay with the quinjet until you spot Bruce." Steve then says with a note of finality in his tone. Logan huffs out a sigh.

"Christ… sometimes I hate it when you make sense, Rogers." Logan then says as he turns and heads out the door.

•••••••

 _Mosul , Northern Iraq…_ _mid March, 2017_

Bruce had been living his nomadic life once more… but he couldn't stand idly by and watch people suffering whenever he came upon bombed out towns and villages as he wandered through the Middle East (particularly around Syria and Iraq) on his way to Africa. He had taken an oath to heal the sick and comfort the dying twenty years ago… and he would honor that 'til the day he died. But that didn't mean he escaped notice from suspicious eyes.

One fateful day, Bruce was at a temporary UN medical shelter in the southern part of Mosul… when suddenly a half-dozen or more ISIS terrorists dressed all in black, faces covered, come charging in. They shoot and kill many of the injured Iraqis… they even shoot one of the foreign doctors, a British doctor, and moved the others, including Bruce, out the back of the medical tent.

There were nearly two dozen more ISIS fighters outside standing in an arcing line with weapons ready. One member of the terrorist rabble started making bold declarations in Arabic and gesturing to the captive doctors whilst an ISIS fighter walked around with a camera in hand to record this latest event. Bruce looked around and noticed that one of the black wearing crew is standing off a ways with a couple of body guards. All the while, this man slowly stroked his long, full beard. The glint of gold upon the middle finger caught the scientist's eye… it was a thick ring set with a large black stone.

" 'Look… you really don't want to do this.' " Bruce said in Arabic trying to plead with the proclaimer to stop. The hooded man scowled at Bruce then grabbed the American doctor pulling him forward.

" 'Then you die first, American Infidel!' " The terrorist said then pushed Bruce down to the sandy ground. He caught himself upon his hands though.

"You're making me angry… you won't like me when I'm angry." Bruce then warned in English.

" 'Silence! American scum!' " The lead terrorist then shouted and gave a swift kick to Bruce's ribs. Bruce takes the hit and then looks down at the sandy ground below him. He feels the hot desert wind pick up stirring the sand around him. He can feel the Hulk raging inside his mind eager to be unleashed… his focus then narrowed down becoming hyperaware… the moment drawn out into a long stretch of listening to his attacker rant and rave about America and bringing death to her citizens. The machine gun he is holding was then cocked and Bruce could feel the barrel pressing to the back of his head… the doctor draws his fingers in, catching sand inside his clenched fists.

" 'I warned you.' " Bruce mutters out before letting Hulk take control.

•••••••

Jennifer watches the screen of the StarkSlate in her large, fingerless gloved, green hands closely. Playing upon the device is a somewhat shaky ISIS production video from some northern Iraqi town… the scene that has captured her attention though is a hard one to watch…

Bruce mutters something in Arabic… and then suddenly… he starts to swell turning green and just like that, Hulk has come out in his eight and half foot tall glory eager to smash… which he does, repeatedly. He takes out every single ISIS fighter with wide arcing slaps, sweeping kicks, and well placed jabs. The angry green giant even moves to stand in front of the Doctors Without Borders people shielding them from bullets. Things get kicked up a notch, or ten, further when some ISIS controlled artillery rolls up and fires at the gamma monster.

Hulk manages to hold his ground as the by-standers flee the area. He then charges the line of pick up trucks with anti-tank .50 cal machine guns mounted in the beds… which don't stop firing… even as the Hulk impacts one of them. Two ISIS fighters even fire off a barrage of explosive rounds from their grenade launchers. One even manages to score a direct hit to Hulk's face with an RPG round.

Though it stuns Hulk for a split second… it just winds up pissing him off even more. So after shaking his head, Hulk gives a mighty, ear-splitting roar then leaps at the remaining vehicles and starts ripping them apart/smashing the hell out of them. As some ISIS fighters rush up and unload their AK-47s on him… the Hulk tosses a crumpled truck at the group. They are promptly crushed.

The camera is dropped then, the wielder perhaps hit by some flying debris, landing to the sandy ground yet still trained on the Hulk… who roars out mightily once more then leaps away. Jen blinks and starts the video over yet again.

"Ya know, if you keep staring at that… it's just going to upset you more." Logan says a touch agitated. His mood is sour because they are flying… the only mode of travel that unnerves the usually unshakable Wolverine. Unlike typical airplanes, the quinjets are the smoothest flying craft ever, but with heightened senses… the Wolverine still finds himself feeling uneasy. She-Hulk looks up at the smaller Mutant with a slight frown upon her purple painted lips. She lets the building emotions go and calms her features.

"I'm just gleaning the evidence for further clues." She says simply then wets her lips and looks back down at the StarkSlate just as Hulk's roar can be heard from the video. "I've gotta get my family back." She whispers out as she watches the scene play out yet again with sad eyes. Logan eyes the giant, green woman. He can tell she's nervous.

"What's he to ya? Husband?" Logan says curiously with a cocked brow. He gets a heated glare at that… and a quick response…

"No." She-Hulk says immediately. "He's the last living relative I've got. He's my cousin…" She then breaks off and furiously blinks to keep her burgeoning tears at bay. "But he might as well be my brother." She then finishes more steadily. Logan knows he's hit a sore spot.

"I'm sorry." Logan says a bit dryly after a heavy sigh… but he means it.

"You don't have to apologize." She-Hulk then says hastily as she sets the StarkSlate aside and gets up. She crouches low in the (to her) cramped space as she approaches the pilot's chair. She leans over it to double check the guidance computer and the coordinates it displays for the autopilot's flight plan… two klicks southwest of Mosul, Iraq.

"So… cousins, huh?" Logan says breaking the awkward silence that had fallen between them. He might as well try and get to know her since they are working together at the moment. It is what Steve would want. "Now I can see the family resemblance." Logan adds and gives a shrug of his shoulder. Being talkative hasn't ever really been his strong suit.

"Yeah…" She-Hulk starts as she turns back around still leaning forward to look at Logan who promptly looks away… politely trying not to stare down the low cut of her tactical uniform at the more than ample green cleavage as they talk. "My father and his mother were siblings… and when he was a kid… before I was born… Bruce's father, well, he… he wasn't a very nice man." She continues as she returns to her seat opposite Logan.

"Abusive?" Logan asks and She-Hulk nods her head solemnly. "Religious? Drunk? Or just an asshole?"

"A drunk… and an asshole from what Bruce has told me." She-Hulk replies then sighs. "He, umm… he used to hit Bruce… and then one day… he killed my Aunt while she was trying to protect him."

"Jesus." Logan says and shakes his head. "No wonder the guy has anger issues." A silence slips between them once more.

"So Bruce came to live with your parents." Logan states more than asks as they look each other in the eyes once more.

"Yes." She-Hulk starts. "There's nearly ten years between us… but he'll always feel like he's my big brother." She-Hulk then says and gives a small smile. "He was my tutor when I was in Elementary school… of course, he was teaching me Middle School, even High School level topics before I was in the fifth grade." She says with a grin.

"So are you a doctor as well?" Logan then asks as he eyes the seven foot plus tall woman… trying to picture her in a white lab coat.

"No." She says emphatically. "I'm smart… but I'm not into tedious math like him."

"So then how'd you 'go green'… if ya don't mind me askin'?" Logan says with a smirk.

"That's a long story." The tall, green woman says in warning.

"We've got time." Logan says and is eager to get his mind off of flying.

"Well… you see… Bruce graduated High School at sixteen and left for college." She-Hulk starts. "I didn't see much of him after that… save for around Christmas. He was so focused on his work. He earned his medical PhD in two years… which normally takes around eight years mind you… but I digress." She then sighs and continues, "I, meanwhile, went on and pursued a career in acting… then when I was fourteen, I starred in a TV show… got all sorts of acclaim which opened allota doors for me."

"Hmm." Logan grunts and nods his head. "I've never really watched a whole lotta TV myself… no offence."

"None taken." She-Hulk says and gives a shrug with her shoulder as she adds, "It was a semi-popular sitcom on the Disney Channel. It wasn't really my show… Patsy Walker was the main star… after all it was named after her… It's Patsy is what it was called." She-Hulk rolls her eyes and smiles amused at remembering her first steady gig in her acting career.

"I went on to do movies then… made it big back in 2000." She-Hulk sighs and short pauses falls between them as she recalls her former life. "I was one of Hollywood's top actresses. I could play any role… but I loved action best of all. I had a pretty steady work load until… well, until Bruce had his accident at Culver University." She pauses once more with a frown upon her purple hued lips and a distant look in her blazing emerald eyes.

"That's when he started turning green?" Logan says prompting her back to the present.

"Yes." She-Hulk replies quickly and rapidly blinks tears away. "I… I put a pause on my acting career and started studying law. There was so much negative press around what had happened at the university… so much talk about how a monster was unleashed and that the military was doing everything they could to contain or kill this Hulk that had destroyed so much property and even killed a few people." She-Hulk stops and Logan sees tears slip free and slide down her green cheeks.

"I hadn't heard from Bruce since the day before that terrible incident and he when he wasn't named among the dead, I knew… I just knew that that monster they kept talking about on the news was him." She quickly wipes at her eyes. "I focused so hard and poured all of my time and a good chunk of my money into learning the law. I wound up passing the Bar Exam after one year… and I knew I wouldn't be allowed to represent Bruce in a court of law… but dammit, I could give him legal advice and help out behind the scenes, ya know."

"Yeah, I know how it feels to feel powerless to help loved ones." Logan says with a sorrowful note as he recalls how he had to kill Jean back 2009. She-Hulk nods her head and smiles reassuringly at him. She can tell he's had his own trials and tribulations to go through.

"It's not easy." She says in comfort.

"It never is." He replies and sighs. "Please, go on." He then says and gestures for her to continue her story. She-Hulk clears her throat and starts back up again.

"Not long after I earned my status as a lawyer, Bruce emailed me. Said he'd been laying low up in Canada. I emailed him back… told him to come to my private retreat…" She then gets lost in her memories once more…

~*~f~*~l~*~a~*~s~*~h~*~b~*~a~*~c~*~k~*~

 _September 2009, Sierra Mountains, Nevada side, North side of Lake Tahoe, Jen Walters' private log cabin retreat_

Jennifer drove her sporty Mercedes up her long, winding, and surprisingly paved drive way towards her retreat home. The drive from Sacramento had been tense and somewhat quiet since she picked Bruce up just west of the State Capital.

"We're almost there, Bruce." Jen said and reached over to squeeze his thick forearm with her hand. She gave him her most reassuring smile hoping his nervous paranoia would abate. He looked ragged and dingy… like he had been living out on the streets diving into dumpsters for food since the accident. He probably had been doing just that to survive.

"You're safe now. I'm going to keep you safe, okay?" She said to her older cousin… and boy howdy, did he look older. Pushing forty, Bruce no longer looked like that fresh-faced, nerdy teenager that she had always seen as her 'big brother' with wide eyes full of wonder and purpose… replaced was he by this bulky, middle-aged man who looked ready to bolt away and hide at every unexpected noise. Brown eyes full of mistrust and fear. It broke her heart to see Bruce this way… like some wild animal caught rather than the super intelligent man she knew him to be.

They pulled into her double car garage and exited… entering the lavish and spacious log cabin proper. Bruce helped carry Jen's bags inside and he looked around the living room from its high, vaulted ceiling… along the balcony/catwalk that lead to the second story bedrooms… down to the sunken circular floor in front of the large, stone paved fireplace. There were plush couches around the interior of the sunken floor, a large flat screen TV over the mantle of the fire place and Bruce watched as Jen made her way up the stairs with the bags she carried in hand.

"It's all a bit much, don't you think?" Bruce had said as he followed her up the stairs and across the balcony/cat walk.

"Nope. Five million dollars well spent, I say." Jen replies with a grin. She heard Bruce's sigh and knew he had rolled his eyes at what he saw as frivolous spending.

"Is there anyone else here?" Bruce then asked as he nervously looked about the open doors that lined the hall.

"No." Jen replied. "I sent my caretakers, Bob and Martha, to Reno for a get away after they stocked the kitchen pantry downstairs and the firewood corral." She had said as they entered one of the larger bedrooms. "We won't be disturbed for the next two weeks."

"Good." Bruce said as he put the bags down by the large, dark wooden dresser.

"The bathroom is through that door… you'll find everything you need in there. Towels are in the white dresser drawers… so feel free to clean up. I'll go down and fix us up something for dinner." Jen had told him as she made her way to the door leading out to the hall.

"Jen…" Bruce then said stopping her from leaving. She turned her green eyes towards him. "Thanks… I honestly can't say that enough. There really hasn't been anywhere I can go… or stay for too long." Bruce then looked down and sighed.

"Everything is alright now, Bruce. You're home… with family… and family…"

"Sticks together." They both said as one. Jen smiles widely as she watched Bruce finally start to smile for the first time since she picked him up.

"Later that evening… after we ate dinner… we wound up having an unexpected guest." She-Hulk continues her recollection.

~*~f~*~l~*~a~*~s~*~h~*~b~*~a~*~c~*~k~*~

Jen and Bruce were seated along the counter side of the large center island in her rather large kitchen. They had been laughing and smiling as they caught up and Jen told Bruce funny stories about some of the more famous actors/actresses she has worked with. Then all of a sudden, after a good laugh and some sipping of their drinks, Jen said,

"Come on… let's go outside. I've got a great view to show you, Bruce." She then talked about how they'd get a good look of the lake from higher up the hillside as they headed for the back door.

•••••••

The skies over Lake Tahoe were clear and crisp that September night as a formation of five heavily armed Apache helicopters flew swiftly towards their destined target.

"Approaching the location of target now, sir." The pilot said into his headset. General Thaddeus Ross looks at the laptop screen in his lap… it is a night vision shot from a camera mounted on the bottom of his chopper's nose. The large, two-story log cabin comes closer and closer into view in the green and black visual.

"We need to do this quickly and mercilessly, men. So light it up!" Ross commanded to his men. He was met with a chorus of 'yessir's and once they were within five hundred yards of the cabin… they flipped the switches to activate their on-board missiles, locked the target, and pressed the red button on their control sticks. Two missiles from each chopper flew away leaving a ghostly white trail in the air behind them…

"See, I told you it would be better out here." Jen said as they walked up the stony path lined with tall pine trees from the cabin towards a large gazebo she has out back. They don't make it though, because without warning the cabin behind them explodes with a tremendous, violent fire ball that light up the night and throws Bruce and Jen off their feet… tossing them some thirty feet forward. Jen hit the ground and the last thing she remembers seeing was Bruce about ten feet away turning green and growing/swelling… then she passed out.

"Confirm target is destroyed, Alpha 5." General Ross commanded and the Apache chopper on the far right veered away to sweep around the burning pile of rubble and tinder below. A spotlight blazed to brilliant life and scanned the semi-forested area and the incline below. A few of the tall pine trees are starting to blaze up and burn.

"All is clear. Target is down. I repeat… All clear. Target is down." The pilot of Alpha 5 said and Ross sighed. His shoulders visibly sagging under the wave of relief he was feeling.

"Wait! There's movement!" The Alpha 5 pilot's voice came over the comms and Ross looked up just in time to see the massive form of the green behemoth leaping up from the trees, arms raised, and raging madly. The impact was swift and brutal as Alpha 5 exploded and fell like a stone down onto the stony ground/lake shore below.

"Evasive maneuvers! Evasive maneuvers!" Ross commanded into his headset and each chopper veered off in a different direction. "Bring that son of a bitch down!" Ross' chopper flew higher to keep the General out of harm's way… the other three go in one after the other firing their powerful guns down at the nearly nine foot tall figure that emerges from the flaming wreckage below.

Hulk raged and roared as he took the hits from the anti-tank guns then uprooted a large boulder from the ground before hurling it at the third chopper to swoop in for an attack. It explodes upon impact and Hulk jumps over the wreckage streaking straight for his position. He is going for Ross' chopper and the General's eyes grew wide as he watched his verdant death come for him… but two missiles streaked in and impacted Hulk on his side blasting him away. He hit the ground digging out a massive rut.

The Hulk shook his head and looked up at the three choppers hovering in the night sky above. Two bright spotlights fixate upon him and he growls out his frustration flexing his bulging muscles in defiance of this enemy. Hulk then smacks a fist to his massive chest and roars. Four missiles come streaking in…

He grabbed the first two then leapt into the air throwing one at the closet chopper which strikes its tail rotor. That chopper then spun out of control and fell from the sky onto the burning remnants of Jen's log cabin. Hulk then twisted in mid air and repeated his tactic by throwing the second missile at the next chopper… it tried to veer away but wound up taking the impact to its underbelly. It fell in a blazing display much like a meteor from the heavens above only to impact in the lake.

"Pull up! Pull up!" Ross shouted to his pilot and the chopper climbs hard… but there is a sudden jerk downward and then the alarms sound. The chopper was beaten mercilessly by the massive fist of the angry green giant and soon they go down… impacting hard into the lake below.

Hulk strode out of the water dragging the downed Apache chopper behind him by the crumpled tail. He leaves the mass of wreckage there on the stony shore then hopped up to where Jen was laying unconscious. He inspected her smaller frame and sees a foot long shard of wood protruding from her side. The urge to help this dark-haired woman overrides everything else in the Hulk's mind and so he gently scooped her up and held her close to his chest… careful not to jostle her too much, he then leapt away fleeing the scene of carnage behind him.

•••••••

The next memory Jen can recall is the feeling of floating… but when she opened her green eyes, she discovered that she was being cradled in the arms of a huge green man. Her eyes were bleary but she could somewhat make out the familiar features of the Hulk's face.

"Bruce." She muttered out weakly and notices the large, green-rimmed brown eyes look at her then she registered the sad, guilty look on the Hulk's face before she passed out once more. Her cheek falling back against the huge shoulder as her consciousness melted away.

"Jen. I'm sorry." She heard the deep rumble before blackness took her.

•••••••

The next conscious thought she had was when her eyes fluttered open once more and she looked about with a drowsy gaze. She noted that she was in a white room with curtains that could be pulled around the bed she was in… and an IV bag was hanging next to her. The faint rhythmic beeping was the final clue that told her she was in a hospital.

She could hear two people arguing just across the room from her position… one she immediately recognized as Bruce and he was adamant about how she needed a blood transfusion asap. But the Doctor (she assumed the other person was a doctor) said that they didn't have a ready supply of O positive blood on hand and that it would take an hour or two before the Red Cross arrived with enough bags of the required blood type.

"She needs a transfusion now, dammit!" Bruce shouted then huffed and stormed away. Jen felt her consciousness slip once more and blackness swallowed up her sight… the last thing she heard was the heart monitor beeping stop and the dreaded sound of flatlining filtered through in a haze before it too faded away… and Jen felt nothing after that.

•••••••

Jen suddenly snapped awake as she felt the burning course through her veins like liquid fire. She grabbed at the sheet as her body arched up off the bed and she gasped out a strangled scream. She could barely register Bruce repeating grief-stricken apologizes as she felt her bones grow and her skin stretch. The bed broke under her increasing weight and her hospital gown ripped apart at her back and around her throat so that when the transformation was finished and she sat up, the pale teal colored material pooled at her front exposing her chest to the room.

"Bruce?!" Jen shouted and her voice was so loud that the shockwave caused the room to shake and the light overhead to burst. Startling her and causing her to flinch. When Jen put her hand down hard upon the tiled floor, it cracked and she looked over at the damage shocked to see that her left hand and arm were green… like the inside of a kiwi in shade.

"I'm sorry, Jen… God help me, I'll find a way to change you back." Bruce said with tears and fear in his brown eyes as he looked down at his distraught cousin before he bolted. Jen was left staring at the empty doorway holding her fallen hospital gown to her breasts. Bruce had abandoned her.

* * *

"So he left… and that didn't piss you off?" Logan then asks after hearing Jen tell her side of what happened. She-Hulk levels a flat glare at her current partner. "So you were steamed." Logan then states and Jen rolls her eyes.

"I was at first… but I came to understand why he did it as time passed." She then replies and shrugs her shoulders. "General Ross paid me a visit after my metamorphosis. Told me how he'd lock me up and throw away the key if I didn't come with him… but then Agent Coulson stepped in and told the General he could shove that threat up his ass… in a polite manner mind you." She adds and smirks at the memory. "I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. after that… became an important field Agent. I even advocated for more fair treatment protocols in dealing with 'powered' individuals."

"And they didn't treat as a nuclear level threat?" Logan then asks and there is a hard edge in his hazel eyes.

"No." She-Hulk replies after a moment's pause. "They treated me as an equal… for the most part."

"I bet they did." Logan adds pensively then looks away. She-Hulk merely gives a cool glare then picks the StarkSlate up once more and starts the ISIS video over again.


End file.
